Saturday, December 17th, 2005, 4:51 am
The Fight Over the Internet
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Time and time again, Bill Gates is urging his engineers to push harder towards successful penetration into the Web. His main rival has been identified already and it has a name: Google. Now begins the fight to win over large corporations that can give an exposure boost and yet more marketing pipes. After talks and negotiations with both sides, AOL appear to be getting close to Google. In stake: communication, media, and more.
Under the deal, Google would pay $1bn (£565m) for a 5% stake in AOL, the Wall Street Journal website has reported. The two firms have declined to comment.
Here is an interesting quote comes from Blake Ross on the state-of-affairs between Google and Microsoft Windows. In particular, emphasis is put on the decline of the Windows brand.
As a user, how many times a day do I see “Windows” versus “Google”? My generation doesn’t know or care about “Windows,” and why should they? For all the talk about Google trying to “get onto the desktop,” you rarely hear about the incredible brand strengthening that takes place every time a user types “www.google.com”. Users go to Google and know it; Windows is a foam peanut that comes in the computer box. More than Google trying to get onto the desktop, Microsoft is trying to get onto the Web.
